You know when you wake up in the morning and go wash your face and the first thing you see is this intrusive pimple sitting on your forehead or nose? You just KNOW your day is bout to start off on the wrong foot.

Pimples, eczema, rosacea, lost of collagen, all things that are caused by inflammation.

Now, before we get to the ugly stuff, let’s talk about the GOOD thing that inflammation does.

Acute Inflammation

There are two types of inflammation, acute inflammation and chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation is the GOOD one. This inflammation is basically your body’s National Guard. It’s called upon when the body is under attack. Chemicals are sent from the body’s white blood cells to the area that is at risk and once it has fought off whatever that is attacking, it retreats until it is called again. If your body is experiencing function loss, redness, swelling, heat or pain, all of these are signs that inflammation is occurring within your body.

See? Inflammation isn’t all bad right? WRONG.

Bad Inflammation

Now here is where inflammation becomes All Lives Matter. Chronic Inflammation can be triggered by stress, bad diet and environmental factors.

The stress hormone called cortisol elevates during stress and while it does its job properly for short periods to handle stress, if you’re constantly stressed, that hormone can go haywire and cause inflammation. That inflammation can show up as acne.

Internal Causes of Inflammation

You digestive tract has to be balanced with good bacteria. Some of the things that can throw off the balance is stress, bad diet and even antibiotics. The reaction from your off balanced digestive tract will show up in your skin. It can look like everything from acne breakouts, rosacea, and visible signs of aging like wrinkles and sagging.

All these instances are why finding ways to reduce your stress levels, getting healthy amounts of sleep every night, eating right and exercise can help reverse and/or prevent chronic inflammation.

External Causes of Inflammation

Now while you’re treating the inside of your body, here comes the other issue. OUTSIDE inflammation triggers.

Ultra violet rays generate molecules called free radicals, which cause inflammation. This is why it is SO important to wear sun screen. Inflammation due to the sun can cause the collagen in your skin to break down faster than normal which causes your skin to look old way earlier than normal.

I say all of this to say, taking care of your skin is both an internal job as well as external. Merely using products won’t help if you’re not taking care of it internally, and eating and sleeping right won’t help if you don’t properly moisturize, exfoliate and protect yourself from the sun’s rays. Your skin is the biggest organ on your body. Protect it because you only get ONE!

Interested in learning what foods or other conventional things can help you keep the inflammation dogs at bay? Download this Cheat Sheet on What Causes/Prevents Inflammation!